Written by Jasmine Hightower, Copy Editor.

VSU’s defending champions, the debate team, are striving in their tournaments and continue to refine their winning approach by showcasing their strategic argumentation skills and unwavering dedication. 

As champions, the debate team are constantly debating different and somewhat difficult topics against other prestigious schools, such as Harvard University, Louisiana State University, Arizona State University and more. 

The team consists of students Reagin Jones, Gabrielle Lorentz, Payton Galway, Vrushtiben Soni, Aaliyah Dranton, Remi Barclay, Brandon James and faculty advisor Dr. Michael Eaves. 

During the team’s tournament on Saturday, Feb. 22, the topics varied from philosophical, business and metaphors. Before the debaters compete with their opponents, they must first prep by researching their topic 30 minutes before debating. For VSU’s debate team, they have their own useful strategies to help them get a variety of sources and facts. 

“I type everything down because for me, writing everything down is, well, it’s a little slow, but it definitely helps with handwriting,” said Galway. “I type because it’s faster and it makes it to where I can think and type at the same speed.” 

“And what I would use for, you know, research and whatnot, I just use Google and things like that and so I try and use a variety of sources to give at least some new ones, and not just strict bias, because the whole point of the debate is to win the debate, and I try,” he said. 

After prepping, the debate begins and each debater is either on the for or against side and some of the topics are very passionate to the debaters even if they must go against it.

“So I was negation. So I was basically against the resolution of corporate philanthropy is dying. Yeah, it was a really interesting one,” said Jones. “They (the judges) made it a value round, which means that when we’re looking at generosity, is it dying or declining? And I said, well, no, babe, it’s a fact because we have to look at it materialistically. We have to be able to see by evidence, by facts, by proof that something is dying.” 

Although debating seems to be the only position for students to participate in, being a judge for the debates is also available but the mindset is completely different and is not much easier than debating. 

“Judging is really not a piece of cake. Like it’s a very hard not to crack because whenever we hear the contentions from both of the debaters, they are very straight on their contention on what they are presenting,” said Soni. “We have to check certain things, like first and foremost is what whatever they are presenting to us, what’s the information they have grabbed from the sources and how many examples they are giving to explain the scenario.” 

Both roles have their own rules and regulations, but nevertheless, both roles are important and are the key factors to debating, which is why students enjoy it so much. 

“I like debating because it’s a purely civil conversation that you could have with another individual about a topic that you can be very easily, extremely passionate about,” said James. “If I talk to any other person outside of debate club or outside of really debating in general, they might get mad at me for even talking about it.” 

The debate team may seem like a hidden jewel here on campus, but it is available to all students. 

“It’s open to all majors. You don’t have to be a communication major and you don’t have to have any prior experience. So all we ask is that you come to the practices, find out what we’re about and then you can debate,” said Dr. Eaves. 

Debate practice is held inside the Communication Building on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Fridays from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

 Photos by Jasmine Hightower, Copy Editor.